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 In
the second half of the nineteenth century, Gwalior was accepted as
the home of khayal music throughout India. Students from all over
the country traveled to Gwalior to learn music and the state of
Maharashtra was no exception. This magnetic quality that Gwalior
possessed survived the death of the doyen of the gharana Haddu Khan,
passing on to his disciples, one of whom was (Bade) Nissar Hussain
Khan. One of the most successful among those who traveled from
Maharashtra to Gwalior at about this time was Pandit Ramakrishna Bua
Vaze.
 Born
in a small village in Maharashtra in 1871, Vaze Bua lost his father
soon after and was brought up by his mother. He studied for only a
few years in school, his passion for music overtaking his interest
in studies. With his mother’s help, he spent the next few years,
moving around, taking lessons in music from several teachers. He was
twelve when he was summoned home to get married and take up his
duties as a householder. The newly married Vaze felt it improper to
depend upon his mother for financial support and decided to take off
on foot, with no particular destination and only the pursuit of
music on his in mind.
In stages, he reached Pune and then Bombay, surviving on the takings
from impromptu street concerts. It also afforded him a rail ticket
to Indore. Since all musical roads led to Gwalior, he too headed in
that direction – from Indore to Ujjain to Banaras. He met his guru,
Nissaar Hussain Khan here and followed him to Gwalior, imbibing
music all the way.
His days in Gwalior were ones of suffering and hardship, but he
remained unswerving in his devotion to music. He picked up
innumerable bandishes from his own ustad with whom he spent several
years, as well as many other musicians of note, thus building up a
formidable repertoire. His performances were always lively and
intellectually stimulating. His layakari was flawless , his taans
had clarity and force and he would leave his audience spellbound. He
was responsible for bringing many little known ragas to light and as
a composer, his specialty was bandishes in fast tempo.
 His
disciples included his son, Shivrambuwa Vaze, Keshavrao Bhosle,
Bapurao Pendharkar, Master Dinanath, Gururao Deshpande, Vinayakrao
Patwardhan and others.
Vazebua settled in Pune in his later life and died on May 5, 1945.
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